UK car production passes 500k for 2015

The UK car manufacturing sector crossed the 500,000 units mark in April 2015. The booming number of cars being sold has led to production being up by 19.4% for the first four months of the year.

A total of 530,505 cars were built in the UK before the end of April 2015, the majority being built in anticipation of the launch of new models from popular car manufacturers throughout the year. The large number of cars being produced correlates with the extremely strong car buying sector, now in its 38th consecutive month of growth. Total cars purchased for the year 2015 passed 920,366 in April, the highest number in ten years. Out of the 530,505 cars produced, its estimated that 19.4% of those cars are destined for the UK market.

The healthy production numbers has benefited from investment in the UK manufacturing industry from companies such as Bentley, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover and MINI. The billions of pounds worth of investment is a precursor to the launch of new products from each of these companies.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “UK car production has escalated in recent years and continues to perform steadily in 2015. Manufacturers across the country are poised to see yet more growth following multi billion pound investments and, providing global markets perform well, output is on track to reach record levels in the next few years.”

China still largest vehicle producer

Compared to the rest of the world, the UK still lags behind with regards to car manufacturing. The 1,598,789 cars produced in the UK in 2014 was enough to place 14th in the world rankings of car manufacturing nations. China dwarfs all opposition with 23,722,890 vehicles produced in 2014, over double the amount of second placed USA (11,660,699). The UK is the fourth largest manufacturer in Europe, behind Germany, France and Spain. The vast majority of cars built in the UK are exported, with 79.2% of those made last year sent abroad. The luxury car market is a big driver of this, with Jaguar Land Rover and Bentley globally renowned for their high quality prestige vehicles.